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A friend, sitting at our table
was watching a hawk at work
Our window on the prairie
was most satisfying to him
as it has been to us
and many, many others
 
The rich black fields stretch out
thick blankets of potential
now cold and wet with springtime rains
soon to be mothering
our food, fiber, and fuel
human necessities
 
Harder to measure
this view we savor
The impressive hawk
sometimes gliding, watching
then swooping down for a meal
Or the robins hopping about
or migrants stopping by along their ways
the doves so heavy looking
(can they really fly?)

What a week!
A yelling, cheering crowd
lining the streets
a man on a colt passing by
 
Something went wrong
or was it right?
When crowds became vicious
begging for cruelty
evil pour out
 
A mock trial
a flogging
another procession
then the sky darkened
the earth shook
a heavy felt curtain suddenly ripped
silence
 
The world on hold
 
It was Friday
but Sunday was coming
 
The sun came up
and people went about their business
Sabbath days were quiet ones
Was the world holding its breath?

he Marine’s have a slogan:
“The Chosen, the Few”
that works, I think for some men I know
 
Strong are they,
fitting a term ‘man up’
they face life’s highway
storms and all
and keep going forward
 
This being earth
challenges come surely
as sun rises, sun sets
but, no matter,
these guys go

Taking two giant, sweeping steps back,
to think about the tides and rivers of mankind
and history, the currents across the face of earth
it strikes me how good and evil
rise and fall
 
Some strains are so obvious
with time, looking back
Like evil doomed, but nevertheless,
waiting with power, in the wings
to rise and twist in  ugliness
 
Sure, Germany was a mess
paving a way for Hitler
to organize, motivate, energize
So we have pictures of soldiers,
rivers of them streaming
into parts of Europe
 
And Japan, too,
their soldiers, planes, ships
growing like a tide
rolling into China, Island after island
even Hawaii
 
Russian troops, unleashed,
binding neighbor nations
strangling them with communism
grinding them in poverty
 
June, 1944, Normandy,
the greatest tide of history
as the collected strength of Allies
poured onto the beaches
then surged inland
like a new Mississippi
of troops and tanks and artillary
of wave after wave of fighter planes
and bombers by the hundreds
 
Evil unleashed
or saviors
to push evil down
get the lid back on
we need to be careful
to step back
and see ourselves as others see us
ask ourselves what values we have
and how are we doing

Frustration rules on both sides
in the debate about the facts
I got a lesson early
in dealing with the public
 
Numbers are cast in concrete
two plus two equals four
end of story
but not for all!
 
You see, the problem is we’re humans
and humans like to think
often times in channels
or ditches or ruts
depending on your point of view
 
Some brains like mine are stuck
to drop into channels
ignore all else
focus
and race along the straightaway
Ah, but others
just as fair
go this way and that way and
do curves and mountains and valleys
Serendipity along their way

Peace reigned supreme
in the Garden of Eden
But turmoil rains and reigns writ large
on the earth today
 
Peace broken, for the man
work, and labor
For the woman
labor of a different sort, but sure
seizing and dominating completely
 
Yet creation, the Creator, breaks through
from her labor a baby is born
IMPOSSIBLE
every birth
Yet there is the child
stretching and announcing “I’m here!”     

O Little Town of Bethlehem (softly)
 
This tiny human
toes and fingers
eye lashes and fingernails                       
everything arranged just so 

Hosanna! Hosanna!
The Whole World is singing! 
The hope of all ages is born!